Florian Gheorghe passed away

Was national player, coach and president in Romania

BUCHAREST – Florian Gheorghe passed away. The President of the Romanian Ice Hockey Federation was battling with cancer and died at the Elias Hospital in Bucharest on Tuesday. He was 61.

“We are shocked and deeply saddened. Florian was a great hockey personality,” said Alexandru Halauca, the General Secretary of the Romanian Ice Hockey Federation.

Gheorghe served Romanian ice hockey almost all his life. As a player he won five national championships with Dinamo Bucharest and also played for Sportul Studentesc. Between 1972 and 1980 he played for the Romanian national team including four B-Pool World Championships. He was on the team that won the B-Pool in 1976 ahead of countries like Japan, Norway and Switzerland to earn promotion to the top division.

He then started a coaching career. He led the U20 national team for five years and the senior national team for six years, most recently in 2001 when the team was promoted to the Division I. He also worked for the Romanian Ice Hockey Federation as a Technical Director.

He later published work on methods of team selections and preparation in hockey that earned him titles in Romania. He was also named honorary president by Dinamo Bucharest.

Gheorghe was the chairman of the national sports authorities from 2005 to 2007 and on 18th November 2013 he was elected as President of the Romanian Ice Hockey Federation.